There’s only one thing to do on such a snowy but sunny sunday afternoon. When was the last time you rolled snow and heard that distinct crunch under gloved hand? We’ve been making snowmen for a long time – apparently the first known illustration of a snowman was from a Book of Hours from 1380. Strange to see him getting such vicious help to thaw…
From my hotel room in Taipei city, pictured here, there is a wonderful mixture of buildings, including the usually cloud-topped ’101′, the second tallest building in the world. I prefer the small, scruffy buildings and I’m picking at the city like it’s small box of sushi delights…with the desperate hope of finding some vegetables to eat!
Meanwhile the city reveals lots of tasty art, including the wonderful Ai Weiwei show ‘absent’. Centuries old furniture of the Qing dynasty are cut and combined in wonderfully clever combinations, sharing legs, overlapping like giant, beautiful wooden puzzles.
I picked up this amazing leaf in Thailand, on the roadside next to an orchid farm. The arrow tree, according to me at least, is the ultimate in way-finding systems. Just lean against it, in a moment of hesitation or in puzzlement with a map, and it will drop a leaf telling you the way to go. Thanks to this particular leaf the only way is forward!
Greetings from Taiwan by the way (clean hotel sheets make for an interesting photo backdrop) and here’s to a great sense of direction for all of us in 2012!
Also read this wonderful interview with the illustrator known as ‘Shout’…such great conceptual work.
Why are planets round? Apparently we have gravity to thank…the force pushes the surface evenly inward (as seen from space at least). Gravity doesn’t help us draw circles however…these planets were just ‘first pass’ circles with no adjustment to the line. I like the thought that we’re all on one planet moving round, and turning round, getting up and going to sleep. Instead of ‘earth’ the picture reads ‘all of us’ though actually, it’s not quite true…visit this ‘one trick pony’ site to see how many of us are in space right now.
A curious find in a charity shop for £1.50 (more than the ‘one shilling and sixpence’ price printed on the back). This edition of ‘Through the Looking Glass’ dates back to 1950 and has a wonderful front/back cover. Notice how even the clock face changes on the other side. A new exhibition dedicated to Alice has started at the Tate in Liverpool which I’m sure will be worth a look. In the meantime I’ll enjoy this little bit of wonder…”Ever drifting down the stream, lingering in the golden gleam – Life, what is it but a dream?”
Thanks to everyone who came to see my joint show at Inkwell in Chapel Allerton. It was lovely to show some of my pictures there. I gave a short talk to artists there the other week and it was wonderful to get feedback and hear about other people’s working methods.
Inkwell does brilliant work helping people with mental health problems to explore issues and express themselves through the creative arts.
Thanks to Boris for lending us such a great space. Oh, and thanks to Mark Terry for these photographs! His MA final show photographs can be seen here. Wonderful work!
My new art show ‘Life Lines’ starts on the 16th September at Inkwell, Potternewton Lane, Chapel Allerton, Leeds, LS7 3LW. It runs until 10th October and will feature about 15 works by me and 10 works by fellow artist Laurie Limon. All welcome! 10% of sales go to Leeds Mind.
If you’d like to come to the private view on the 16th September, 6.00-8.30pm then please email me: catherine@catherinestones.net
